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• bach
  bach

  noun

  a bachelor.
• Bach
  Bach

  noun

  Johann Sebastian 1685–1750, German organist and composer.

bach

¹ American  

[bach] / bætʃ /

noun

• baches
  plural

1. a bachelor.

2. New Zealand. a small weekend or vacation house or shack.

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idioms

1. bach it, to live alone or share living quarters with someone of the same gender, usually doing one's own housework, cooking, laundry, etc.

Bach ² American  

[bahkh] / bɑx /

noun

1. Johann Sebastian 1685–1750, German organist and composer.

2. his sons: Carl Philipp Emanuel 1714–88; Johann Christian 1735–82; Johann Christoph Friedrich 1732–95; and Wilhelm Friedemann 1710–84, German organists and composers.

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Bach ¹ British  

/ bax /

noun

1. Johann Christian (joˈhan ˈkrɪstjan), 11th son of J. S. Bach. 1735–82, German composer, called the English Bach , resident in London from 1762

2. Johann Christoph (ˈkrɪstɔf). 1642–1703, German composer: wrote oratorios, cantatas, and motets, some of which were falsely attributed to J. S. Bach, of whom he was a distant relative

3. Johann Sebastian (joˈhan zeˈbastjan). 1685–1750, German composer: church organist at Arnstadt (1703–07) and Mühlhausen (1707–08); court organist at Weimar (1708–17); musical director for Prince Leopold of Köthen (1717–28); musical director for the city of Leipzig (1728–50). His output was enormous and displays great vigour and invention within the northern European polyphonic tradition. His works include nearly 200 cantatas and oratorios, settings of the Passion according to St John (1723) and St Matthew (1729), the six Brandenburg Concertos (1720–21), the 48 preludes and fugues of the Well-tempered Clavier (completed 1744), and the Mass in B Minor (1733–38)

4. Karl ( or Carl ) Philipp Emanuel (karl ˈfiːlɪp eˈmaːnuɛl), 3rd son of J. S. Bach. 1714–88, German composer, chiefly of symphonies, keyboard sonatas, and church music

5. Wilhelm Friedemann (ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈfriːdəman), eldest son of J. S. Bach. 1710–84, German composer: wrote nine symphonies and much keyboard and religious music

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bach ² British  

/ bætʃ /

verb

1. a variant spelling of batch 1

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noun

1. a simple cottage, esp at the seaside

bach ³ British  

/ bax, bɑːk /

noun

1. a term of friendly address: used esp after a person's name

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• baches
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of bach

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55; by shortening

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bach Bach baches

I hear the voices singing, speed your journey, bois, bois bach.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2022

Alan Stein bach New York City When you ponder "What to Do About Israel," you miss a key point.

From Time Magazine Archive

“This above all, be true to yourself, and then you cannot be false to any man,” he cried to Laertes’ departing bach.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

"Mortgage Deinol, my father bach," he said to Abel.

From My Neighbors Stories of the Welsh People by Caradoc Evans

The proprietor led me upstairs to a room that I could have free with an oil stove and table where I could cook—so I made arrangements to "bach".

From The Conquest The Story of a Negro Pioneer by Oscar Micheaux

“The Score” benefits from the comic-bordering-on-caricaturish portrayals of some of its characters, including not just Frederick but also three court composers in cahoots with him to humiliate Bach.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

LACO’s musicians know it’s “a place where they can play … Bach and Mozart, and make music at a really high level in a performance environment, not a studio environment.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

The kernel of the drama—unfortunately kernel is probably the right term—is Frederick’s demand, or more gently put, his invitation, that Bach create a three-part fugue on a theme the king composed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Bach said one simple way to do that is to use your phone to record a video as you walk through each room, narrating as you go.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

In a typical Bach fugue, such as the ‘Gigue Fugue’, the tune to be imitated would be much longer than the four notes that begin 'London’s Burning’.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Popular in Whangaroa Harbour and other locations away from cities and main tourist areas are cottages known as "baches."

From US News ● Nov. 10, 2015

They say he baches it there, cookin' his meals on a one-burner oil stove, never reportin'170 sick, never takin' a vacation, and never gettin' above Thirty-third Street or below Fourteenth.

From Torchy and Vee by Sewell Ford

She developed a sturdy self-reliance that was surprising in one so young, and long before spring came was indispensable to the two "old baches."

From A Little Norsk; Or, Ol' Pap's Flaxen by Hamlin Garland

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